UM starts baseball season with top arms shelved

CORAL GABLES — For the first time in memory, the University will open a baseball season outside of the top 25. It'll also be without two of its top pitching arms.

Sophomore Chris Diaz will take the hill at 7 p.m. Friday against Rutgers as a fill in for UM as it opens the season at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field. Javi Salas will go Saturday at 7 p.m. and Andrew Suarez will start the 1 p.m. Sunday series finale.

The rotation was shuffled because of injuries to two regular weekend starters. Bryan Radziewski (10-9, 3.08 ERA) is still recovering from his Tommy John surgery and coach Jim Morris said he's still a few weeks away from being game ready. Shoulder stiffness will keep Eric Whaley (4-4, 2.68) from pitching for the first week or two, but Morris didn't seem too concerned with his status moving forward.

Whaley said Wednesday this wasn't something he'd experienced before, but they didn't want to take any risks with further damage this early in the season.

Diaz, a lefty, started twice last season in 25 appearances. He finished with a 2-1 record and 4.18 ERA. The first few weeks of the season will include plenty of trial and error for a team full of young, but unproven talent.

"We have a lot of question marks," Morris said. "The lineup that we play on Friday probably won't be the same lineup we play Saturday or Sunday. It's just time to experiment and see what you have and see how these guys react to competition."